I have a plant that is quite luxuriant in shady spots in my yard. It is not anything that has been planted in the last fifty years. The foliage has the same kind of form as wandering jew--arrow shaped leaves alternating on a long stem, leaves about an inch and half or two inches long and solid darkish green--but the flowers are quite gorgeous. They are two bright blue, round petals that are above a very short, yellow set of stamens and pistils. The blue is a true, clear blue, and the petals are each about an inch in diameter. It bloomed last week.

Does anyone have any idea what this lovely thing might be?

Found it. It's called dayflower http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/comco.htm and is considered a weed. Is there any reason why I should eliminate it if it isn't causing a problem? How invasive is it? It looks to me as if would be a very nice ground cover.

ParadoxFarm

Jun. 6, 2012, 03:43 PM

I get these, too. I love the foliage and flowers, but I do end up pulling them from my garden because they take over and crowd out my other flowers. They are easy to pull, though. :). They seem pretty shallow.

CFFarm

Jun. 6, 2012, 03:48 PM

Looks a lot like what we here in FL call spiderwort. http://home.howstuffworks.com/spiderwort.htm

It's considered a weed here but I've seen it in native gardens and up North it's even sold in garden centers. It can be invasive in lawns in some parts of the country I guess.

PRS

Jun. 6, 2012, 04:04 PM

I've been trying to get rid of this stuff for years. It will creep and become a ground cover if you let it. I don't want it where it is growing against the house but I pull out all I can see and it sprouts right back. It regenerates and grows again from the smallest piece left behind.

vineyridge

Jun. 6, 2012, 04:22 PM

I need a ground cover very near where it's growing--a shady area that tends to be damp just because of the lack of sun. If dayflower would grow in very shady areas surrounded by trees, I'd love to have a mass of those brilliantly blue flowers on that side of my house.

Do you suppose edging would contain it?

PRS, have you tried digging?

PRS

Jun. 8, 2012, 09:08 AM

I need a ground cover very near where it's growing--a shady area that tends to be damp just because of the lack of sun. If dayflower would grow in very shady areas surrounded by trees, I'd love to have a mass of those brilliantly blue flowers on that side of my house.

Do you suppose edging would contain it?

PRS, have you tried digging?

Yup...spent hours digging the stuff up only to have it sprout right back. You leave the tiniest little speck of a part of a root, it seems, and it comes back.